Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Cadet Winton is a unique team event held each year at Millfield School with fencers selected from nine regions across England in a six weapons competition.

Congratulations to the following fencers who have been selected to represent the Southern Region at the Cadet Winton on the 16th and 17th of December. We wish them all luck and hope they all have a great weekend of fencing. The team will be supported by weapon coaches and referees.

The BF Safety Committee are concerned about some near misses when fencers’ masks fell off during a bout.

Fencers must wear masks that are of the appropriate size and, with ‘traditional’ masks featuring a metal back spring, the spring must be bent so as to assist retention. The 2nd security device, the Velcro strap, must not be at risk of coming undone accidentally – i.e. all the Velcro fixings must be in good condition.

If the fencer has long hair and the hair is tied up, this strap must be placed below the hair tie, not over the top of it.

Before every bout referees should check the two fencers’ masks in the above respects and, during the bout, should ensure that each time a fencer puts his mask back on the 2nd security device, the Velcro strap, is correctly worn.

If a fencer persists in wearing his mask in a way that does not comply with the above, the referee should penalise him with a Yellow Card (‘clothing not conforming to the Rules – t.45’).

Vets Winton last weekend. There were 10 regions entered and Southern region came 4th overall, up two places from last year.
In addition to that, Adrian Griffin won the Frank Mills Trophy for best male foilist!

South East won with South West and Northern Britain behind them.
Thank you for supporting the team. The Zoodies were much appreciated, looked fantastic and other regions were envious. What more could we ask?

Congratulations to all those who represented Southern at the BYC.
We trust you all enjoyed you weekend in Sheffield. It was good to see so many competing
Overall we did very well, coming 5th out of the 18 regions that are eligible to compete here (Lon were 1st, SW 2nd , WM 3rd & SE 4th)

Our silverware was in the u18 foil, very well done to Charlotte Fairman

We did put up very good fights with some thrilling finals that we just missed out in – well done to those who were runners up:

Congratulations to the following fencers who have been selected to represent the Region at the Cadet Winton held at Millfield School on the 19th/20th December. We wish them all luck and hope they all have a great weekend.

This is a fencing club, with fencing at the heart of the activities. The general aim is to replicate a whole competition in just 3 hours. Thus everyone does 5 fights to 5 hits, 3 minutes and then 3 or 4 fights to 15, 3 * 3 minutes. Fencers are to be self-presiding and agree on scoring of hits.

This is a training session where fencers are expected experiment and learn during the course of a bout. Fencers are not to be aggressive or intimidating. Less able fencers are to be respected and given help to develop, grow and learn.

Restrictions:

Over 14 years of age (lower, if ability warrants it, and if a parent attends and supervises)

BF membership

Own working and well maintained electric kit

All three weapons (hopefully, depending upon attendance)

Requirements:

Please bring a box from your normal club if possible. We will need around 5 boxes to be provided by attendees.

Costs:

£7.50 per session, payable on the day

Reductions – £5.00 per session, payable on the day (Students, Amateur / Professional coaches, Southern Region or National organisers, Veteran or retired fencers, etc.)

Note that this is a not-for-profit club. Any extra funds accumulated will be re-invested in the club in the form of boxes, or ‘free’ sessions.

On Friday 15th of September St Lawrence’s Church Hungerford was full to over-flowing for the funeral and celebration service of the life of James Ballantyne .James lost his life following a tragic accident on July 4th. He was 23.

James’s family and friends paid tribute to an outward-going young man with a lovely and lively personality ;who made and kept friends easily and lived his short life very much to the full.James threw himself enthusiastically into all life had to offer ; he worked hard and knew how and when to play. He had a strong sense of community spirit and was a funny and fun companion to people of all ages. James was diligent and clever ; good natured and generous with his time. He had a penchant for magic tricks, Jalapeno eating , “freakanomics” and inventing games that he usually won because he was the only person who fully understood the rules.

Tributes during the service all made mention of James and his love of fencing.He was a stalwart of Newbury Fencing Club supporting County and Regional events and his mother Catherine Hill was the Secretary of the Bucks, Berks and Oxon County Fencing Union for several years.

Past and present members of BB&O attended the service. Many young fencers now in their late teens remember James with great fondness for the way he looked after them at their first competitions ; his sportsmanship and his unselfish support and encouragement in team events like the Foil Rally or the Fencing Picnic .

As his friend Sam Jones said in tribute, James always put the well-being of others first – right up to the end.

He will be much missed by all who knew him.

In his memory the James Ballantyne Memorial Fund has been set up in support of Young Engineers and donations may be still made via RC Smallbone, Funeral Directors, Starwood House, 37 Pound Street, Newbury RG14 6AE

All 3 weapon training day at St Gabriel’sPossible First Aid course – £45 per person (as long as we have 12 – may put price up a little if nearly enough of you),
If you are interested email coaching@southernfencing.org.ukasap as we need enough coaches to put the course on

It is with great regret that we pass on the sad news that Matt Thompson died over the weekend.

Although not unexpected, it still comes as a shock. For many of us he was a friend as well as a colleague whose support for the region and its fencers was never ending. He will be sorely missed, not only by us but by many in the fencing community.

If anyone wishes to pass on a memory of Matt, we will put together something for his family. Please feel free to email (webmaster@southernfencing.org.uk) or put something direct onto facebook.

We are asking everyone who has anything to do with the region to complete this questionnaire by the end of November so that we can produce a snap shot of what is going on in the region and what we can do to help develop everyone further.

With all this information we will produce a document that will form the basis of an application for a grant to help with the development across the region. If you have the time, take a look at the England website for details: www.englandfencing.co.uk

We will be using the base data for our future mailing list – if you do not want to be on it, you have the option to opt out, but please do the survey.

Many thanks, in advance, for your assistance – we will update you with our progress.

Next competition

The age group team competition is in 3 weeks, on Nov 20, details are on the website.

We will be awarding our rather wonderful ‘Sportsmanship Award’ for a foil star as we did last year, this year we also have one for an epee star. These awards are about sportsmanship, not about being the best fencer – not that you shouldn’t strive to be both.

We have also the possibility of holding some basic sessions with an armourer to show fencers and/or parents about some basic upkeep of weapons – if you would like us to spend 10-15mins on this, please email June: secretary@southernfencing.org.uk.

Details have been put up by BF on kit recalls, please check out the website for details as we need you to ensure you are safe to fence.

Training Day

We are going to hold a training day or two the weekend of January 7/8. Saturday 7 will be held at Oxford and we will have coaches in all three weapons. If there is sufficient demand we will book the Sunday, at another venue. There will be a £20 charge for the day. To book your place, please email June: secretary@southernfencing.org.uk– please specify the weapon as numbers in each group will have to be controlled, also say if you would prefer Sunday if available or indeed if you would like both.

Over this weekend we will also be holding potential coach course attendee assessments so if you think you might like to become a coach or you are already a coach and would like to move up, our coach educators will be on hand to put you through you paces to see if you are ready to take a place on a course. Our course for level one and two (any/all weapons) will be planned over the following few months with different opportunities for you to attend training and assessment days. Please email our coach co-ordinators Olly and Lee: coaching@southernfencing.org.uk to let them know you would like to book a slot with our educators to assess you and to arrange to tell you how the course will run.

Also on the Sunday there will be a first aid course for those of you who need one – Mike is very good and some of the course will be fencing specific. There will be a charge for this certificated training. We will confirm the amount when we have the numbers of you who would like to attend – you will have to cover the course cost, the region will cover the other expenses (will be somewhere between £20 and £40, so we need a full house to keep the costs down). If you would like to attend the first aid course please email June: secretary@southernfencing.org.uk

Upcoming Competitions

The Epee and Sabre Adult and Age Group competition. This will be held at Reading University on Sunday, 15 January.

The Foil Age Group competition. This will be held at St Barts, in Newbury, on Sunday, 26 February.

For those entering the Age Group competitions, the British Youth Championships will be held over the May Bank Holiday, 5-7 May 2012.

Other Notices

Club officials/coaches – are you a new club, a growing club, a club with out of date kit – please check out the BF website for details of the lease to buy option for new fencing kit. BF/EF have arranged for an amount of kit to be available that you can tap into.

FYI – parents…. There is a parents group now formally recognised by BF. They have their own website www.bfparentsgroup.co.uk so feel free to check it out.

Members of the BF board have been attending ‘road shows’ around the country to talk to fencers and families answering your questions about fencing – would you like us to arrange for one at either the January or February competitions? Please let me know by Nov 20 if you would, and I will see if I can arrange one.

Firstly, congratulations to all those who fenced in the VETS Winton this month, sixth out of nine teams – much improved on last year; I trust a good time was had by all.

Shortly you will receive a link for a survey that we hope you will all participate in. It is to provide us with information about what is happening around the region and to help us create a development plan that can be used to form part of a submission for additional funding to help across the region

Sunday, 20th November - Team Competition, this year at Bradfield School

There will be Epee and Foil competitions and three age groups this year

Based on further advice received after the Board’s notice yesterday, British Fencing has suspended the use of this protective equipment whilst further enquiries are made, by the British Fencing Safety Committee, as to its fitness for purpose.

The Southern Region has a Duty of Care towards our fencers and safety is paramount and our first concern. Therefore it has been decided to suspended the use of plastrons, jackets and breeches from Sword Price Fighters with immediate effect at Southern Region competitions, until a decision is made to either continue or remove the suspension.

These Championships are being held in Sheffield’s EIS from 15 to 21 July 2011

We have been tasked with creating a friendly volunteer family/force

All are welcome! Whilst fencing experience may be useful, it is not necessary
We know training will be provided where necessary
We know we will look after you (but we don’t yet know all the details)
We know we will work you hard, but most of all…We know we will do our very best to make it enjoyable and exciting

Please come and join us to make these Championships a fantastic experience for all.

It is official – the England Board have unanimously agreed that Southern should be kept as an England Fencing Region It is all down to the support for the region shown by all of you – our case was, apparently, well put and well supported We now have to prove our worth even more over the next x number of years We need to get more folk fencing We need to encourage our fencers to fence at the regional competitions and for region when the opportunity arises We need to encourage fencers and volunteers to get involved with training opportunities We need to spread the work of the region around still further, more folk doing small amounts If you think you would like to get more involved – even if it is just making sure you arrive early or stay late or make the tea at a comp, or you if you have some more time to get involved, there a few areas bigger that would be nice to share around Those who are already involved are really appreciated and I do hope you understand how much This is the opportunity to show our region is innovative; together we will find new ways of promoting fencing as a more main stream sport Thanks again for all your support

At the BYC U10 competition we had three very good results. Heloïse Hardie who finished 3rd (whom I gather was most impressed with the huge bar of chocolate that she was given – check out her photos – one in action and one at the presentation, no chocolate we notice!). Samantha Flack finished 7th – unfortunately it fell to Heloïse to knock her out. Harry Vaughan-Williams was 15th in the boys – knocking out the eleventh seed on the way.

Eileen and I will be there for the weekend, we sell BF kit there and look after the volunteers – two things… 1 – if you are fencing, remember to come tell us how you are doing (good or bad!) – if you want some extra support we will try and come along, if you reach a quarter final we will make sure at least one of us come along… just remember to tell us 2 – parents… if you find that you are not wanted for a while and fancy something different, we would appreciate a bit of help (even if you only have 15 mins at a time and could do a check to see if the armourers need feeding, it would be appreciated)

Very sadly I have to tell you that the Hampshire coach Chris Holroyd passed away this morning. Chris has been involved in Hampshire fencing for the last 40 years. Do you have any special stories that you would like included – please send us your memories to chair@southernfencing.org.uk. Should you wish further details about any arrangements please contact Rochelle at the above email.

Congratulations to Salle Eton and Salisbury on receiving Clubmark accreditation.

This is an achievement for both clubs and one that we hope to see all around the region.

Having got Salle Eton through the mire of paperwork and courses David Oakden has agreed to act a mentor. If your club is going through the process, or thinking about starting it and want to talk to someone who has been there, please email David (see contacts)

Yesterday, a new organising team from Hampshire, ran their first major event (with over 160 fencers) in a venue new to the region and, overall, they did very well.

The information we were given for finding our new venue caused problems in so far as if you had an old satnav it couldn’t get you there and there were roadwork’s nearby that caused folk delay. We chose to give folk a bit extra time to arrive so from the beginning of the day we were a little behind. We try very hard to ensure every foil fight has a competent referee, again ref’s are folk who volunteer to give of their time learn how to referee, and then to referee. It is always hard to ensure there are enough folk around to referee at a county, regional or Open competition and this sometimes causes delays waiting for someone suitable to be available.

Apologies to the u12’s who, yesterday, had to stop but who were then able to start again and compete their competition – with hindsight it might have been handled differently, but hindsight is a wonderful thing most of us wish we had.

Those of you going to Sheffield to represent the region, very well done and good luck.

I will be in Sheffield with Eileen (near the entrance with the BFA kit), please come say hello and tell us how you are doing (good or bad!) – we especially like to close up and come watch you when you get into the last four so make sure we know; mind you one of us will try and pop along any time we can (if you want us and you tell us).

Badges will be available at the team competition for anyone who hasn’t already got one. These are to warn on the none fencing arm. As soon as there is news on the hoodies we will put it on the website.

Finally, I would like to thank BB&O for the Epee and Sabre competition last November and Hampshire for yesterday, Milind and Ian for their computer skills, Eileen for handling all the entries, Harry for coping with armoury for many more fencers than the youngsters that he is actually there for, all those who refereed and helped with food and all of you who chauffeur and support the fencers and to the staff at Bradfield College and Reading University Sports Centre for looking after us and look forward to seeing many of you at the team event in March in Reading.

If you could spare some time to help at a competition please let us know

Zoe Sheehan (whose first fencing competition was the Southern Region qualifiers in November) took part in the Elite Epee Series in Surrey on December 12th and, in a field of 24 fencers from all over London and the South East, she came 2nd.

Many thanks to everyone who helps out across the region, be it at club or competitions. Last night, at the Army and Navy Club in London I was presented with a Torch Trophy Trust Award by the Duchess of Gloucester – this is given to volunteers from across all sports, 16 were presented this year. I am grateful for those who put me forward, but I can only do this job because of all of you who help. I didn’t think I deserved the award, there are hundreds for folk who have given so much of their time for a lot longer than I, but I was told last night that it is a thank you to every one that is involved because of my asking – so thank you and please continue to volunteer, every little bit helps.

Congratulations to Harry Boteler (Eton College) who came 5th (top Brit) in the individual tournament in the Meylan (France) European Cadet circuit sabre tournament and who went on, in the team competition, to win the final against Romania – we think this is the first time a British cadet (u17) team has ever won a gold medal in international competition at sabre. Well done and good luck for the rest of the season

As mentioned recently by British Fencing, John Routledge spent two months studying in Bucharest at the Romanian National Training Centre for the the FIE Foil Coaching Diploma exam, which he successfully passed.

The Coaching Educators were 3 times Olympian Petru Kuki and 1995 World Foil Champion, Dmitriy Chevchenko. The intensive training schedule comprised of six hours a day, six days a week and the head examiner was the FIE’s technical director Ioan Pop.

You can look out for John’s words on his experiences in the next edition of the Sword.

Welcome to the new Southern Fencing website. The primary idea is to make it easier for us to provide information to the southern region fencing community. We encourage you to suggest improvements, send information and even send in photos and videos! We will have online competition entry and regular news and events posted on the site so please check back frequently.